How to make your own tallow or lard

I remember fondly my Nanna's baked dinners always tasting the best. She used to keep the fat drippings from meat in a jar and then used this fat to bake the vegetables. Now my baked pumpkin tastes just as good - yummy!Tallow is rendered beef fat. Providing it is made from grass-fed animal fat it is a healthier and tastier alternative to use at high temperatures then the unstable and inflammatory vegetable and seed oils e.g canola oil and sunflower oil.

Lard is the name for rendered pork fat.

Making your own tallow/lard is easy and very cost effective. It is solid at room temperature and can be stored for extended periods of time.

You will need to source grass-fed beet fat (suet) or pastured pork fat. Ask butchers or meat sellers at farmers markets. Expect to pay around $2-$3 a kilo. Or you may be lucky to source some for free! One kilogram of fat will render to approximately 600g of tallow.

Step 1: Gather your equipment. You will need a chopping board and sharp knife, slow cooker/crockpot, metal strainer and either a ceramic or glass dish, plus some mini muffin tins and/or glass jars.Finally, you will need some fat (suet). In this example i used 1kg of grass-fed beef suet.

Step 2: Chop the fat into cubes approximately 2cm x 2cm think.TIP: The fat is easier to chop when it is either very cold or partially frozen.

Step 3:Put the cubes of fat into either a thermomix or a food processor. Pulse until the fat breaks down into very small pieces.TIP: I did this lot in two separate batches. If you don't have a high powered food processor you can skip step 3, it will just take longer to render.

After you have pulsed it a few times (depending on the power of your processor), it should look something like this.

TIP: The fat needs to be cold for this to work effectively. Put the cubes of fat back into the fridge for 10minutes first if in doubt.

Step 4:Put all the fat into a slow cooker and turn it onto the low setting.Put the lid on.The fat will take approx 4 hours to render (melt) down.

This is what it will look like approximately 3 hours in. Every now and then, as it starts to melt, use a wooden or metal spoon to push down any pieces that are on the sides or clumping together. Keep cooking until most of the fat has melted into a golden liquid and there are only some hardened bits on top.

Step 5:Turn off the slow cooker and very carefully (hot oil burns badly!) pour the melted tallow through a metal strainer.

TIP: You can put a muslin cloth over the strainer as well to filter it extra cleanly.

The result is a golden liquid of melted tallow.

TIP: You can return the strained pieces to the slow cooker to see if you can render down even more liquid. Then repeat step 5.

Pour the liquid into mini muffin tins or glass jars.

TIP: I have found mini muffin size pieces of tallow much handier to use then trying to get a spoon of solid tallow out of a jar.

Place in the fridge overnight. They will turn to a much whiter colour and be solid when cold.

TIP: If you used glass jars, just keep one in the fridge ready to use and place any extra ones in the freezer.

The next day, turn out the tallow pieces. If they have been in the fridge overnight then they should all come out quite easily.

TIP: If they don't come out first go, give the back of the tin a quick hit first with the palm of your hand or you could try placing a warm cloth on the back of the tin.

Store the pieces in snap lock bags or a container in the freezer. Use straight from the freezer.

When needed place a piece in the frypan or a couple of pieces on a baking tray.